02.28.06

In what sounds like one of the uglier stunts (plug in vulgar rhyme at your own leisure) in recent memory, WEEI’s Pete Sheppard tried his hand at curling, stopping by Wayland, MA’s Broomstones Curling Club. From Metro West’s Lenny Megliola.

Clearly Sheppard wasn’t going to get a handle on the sport in one night. He tried pushing the 42-pound stone three times, and quickly lost his balance each time, crumbling to his knees. Some states would have stopped it right there on the three-knockdown rule.

He was game enough to try the broom thing, sweeping in front of the stone. That proved to be even more difficult. When he got to the circle he did a total wipeout, sliding on his belly into the center of the circle. Curlers using the other lanes stopped and cheered. It was great form. For the breaststroke.

“You OK?” Kupchik asked. “I don’t want to push you.”

Spectators watching from the second-level lounge area gave Sheppard a standing O. “I have a new-found respect for curling,” he told them. “Believe me.”

Not much of a curler, this guy, but a helluva sport. He tried. “(Big Show host Glenn) Ordway would’ve had a heart attack,” said Sheppard.

WEEI’s Whiney Awards are taking place tonight at the TD BankNorth Garden. Tickets are $40, and while I realize a portion of the procees are going to charity, unless they can end all human suffering (ie. blow up the radio station) with the money, this doesn’t sound like a great deal.